(this post is part of a challenge I’m doing where I go 30 days of November doing something that scares me, challenges me, or just is outside of my comfort zone, you can view the start of this here: 30 Days of Embracing YES
“When we think of failure; failure will be ours. If we remain undecided nothing will ever change. All we need to do is want to achieve something great and then simply to do it. Never think of failure, for what we think, will come about” Maharashi Mahesh
I decided to start off day 1 with that lovely quote. It encompasses everything that I see ‘fear’ to be. We think we wont do well, so we don’t do well. We decide to stay the same because it’s easy….and then time moves on and we never grow. We don’t realize that we sometimes walk around in this bubble everyday doing the same damn thing, scared to try anything new. Whatever we believe becomes our the truth. Whether we think we are: right or wrong or fat or skinny or smart or dumb….we become…we create our fate. We must always stay positive and face the things we are scared of in order to move into what we truly want.
I want to teach yoga. I have a crazy fear of failure which prevents me from even practicing this. I know I can be a great teacher but when it comes time to put in the footwork, I back out. Everything about that quote I posted is exactly what I am. Let me rephrase that, everything about that quote is everything I WAS…because today I finally broke down and taught my friend Jessica.
She has never done yoga before but has wanted to learn lately. I always tell her to sign up at my studio so she can try it out but that scared her because she didn’t know the basics. I always told her I would teach her one-on-one so that she can learn but my fear led me to excuses like my schedule was too busy, or I’m sick and cant do it today…blah blah. Anything that got me out of teaching because I knew I didn’t want to fail her, which encompassed failing myself. I realize now that this has all been up in my head. I create a lack of growth simply by saying no everyday…and soon enough I will move on to something else forgetting I ever wanted to teach. Not today. Today I decided to embrace YES. That is why I did my challenge, the more I face things that scare me, the more it won’t scare me.
Today I had butterflies in my stomach only because I knew this would be my first time with someone other than a teacher. She came over saying how nervous she was, which made me feel better to know we were in the same boat. I cleared my living room for our mats and first taught a few things before we initially started. I told her what Warrior 1, 2 and 3 were, chataranga, up and down dog; I showed her modifications and utkatasana. Then we went through the entire Baron Baptiste Power Yoga sequence. We did all of it and I even paused to show her a few arm balances and how to get ready for headstand. To my surprise, and hers, she rocked crow pose! Some people spend years trying to get into crow but Jess got up on her first try. It was great. I taught her proper alignment and by the end of our practice she had a HUGE smile on her face saying her entire body hurt and that she didn’t realize how many muscles are used in yoga since like everyone else, she thought yoga was all about being flexible. Today we both faced a fear and came out of it being absolutely happy we did this.
Here are a few more pictures from our practice:
getting into Crow pose on her first try
halfway through jessica’s few times doing downward dog, i came beside her and taught her how to really open up her chest and get deep into her pose, and this is her fully into it!
We had so much fun and I now feel empowered to teach more. I want to teach as many days as possible so that I can possibly become a teacher someday:)
Day 1 went amazing. I believe that this challenge is really going to help me strive for my goals and I do believe that facing fear is the only way to get through those fears. So Day 1 on my journey has been a success! Now I’m going to relax before a Glow in the Dark yoga class I’m going to later tonight! Happy Friday everyone!
Namaste:)
